Rating: 
Summary: See it to believe it
Review: This movie screws with your mind. All I can say is that it makes Pulp Fiction look like Sesame Street. And I can't call my cats any more without hearing "kitty kitty kitty" the woman's words from the gruesome torture sequence!
Rating:
Summary: Finding That Special Someone and Slowly, Painfully, Parting
Review: Everyone wants to feel wanted and everyone wants to have that special someone around to watch the world grow tiresome with. And how can they not, really? It is a social imperative, the need to feel and to have, and it is passed on by practically every society. So, conditioned within them, this need for people, for something they think they long for, it is something that all people, even those who have had and have lost, still seek.
Still, how does one go about kindling the fires of passion and finding something like this in the twilight of their lives?
How do you look but not waste time, find without truly having to seek, getting what you really want?
Well, one could go about it with the normal methodology, trying and trying again until they get dating right, hoping beyond hope that they find what they want. This takes time, mind you, and it is a method riddled with holes. Another method is taking a friend's suggestions on someone that they think fits you like a glove, trying their ideas out on how to meet and who to seek while seeing if they can play matchmaker better than the seeking can. This sometimes works well because the people around you see more of you than you oftentimes do, but this sometimes fails as well. Or, if one has the means and the will, they can combine these suggestions, taking the advice of a friend, the method of dating, and the construction of a little lie - that of an audition - to launch a probe into backgrounds of interest. So, what can be said about a movie that manages to worm its way into the psyche, making you question the motives of the people around you? Well, in The Audition's case, many things. The way the walls of this construct were built, with the characters introduced and their motives fashioned, were done with merit. First there is almost a mundaneness that most people seem to birth, that of the longing that comes from a world running in low gear and that of families and friends sharing opinions. This slowly drifts into else, taking on happiness and then, through the wiggling of a severed tongue and the creative use of piano wire, drowning in darkness. Within this is housed a few interesting lives and angles by which those worlds are seen, and there is a longing that portrayed here, making a person see more of the carnality of the tragedy being portrayed.
Although undeniably horrific, it is enticing and addictive and, in many a right, it is a bizarre ride as well. Within this movie, there are many elements that had their desired effect, honestly make me feel uncomfortable with the process of dating and with interaction on the whole. This is because the elements of the film all revolve around learning about people; believing in the image perpetuated in the hopes that something could become tangible and that happiness will manifest, and the fact that you can be with someone and not truly know them. Although you lie in the same bed and you hear the words that they say over a meal, you oftentimes find little voids, ugly little limitations, in those dealings. But the limitations, the snapshots that we overlook and hope doesn't exist within our beauty, that of the evolution of the social monster, they are never dwelt on when we are off chasing dreams.
But what if they should be dwelt on, if they really have weight in the mind that we are dealing with, and what if that person is an addiction that we cannot support because, in a sense, they are a vice sporting teeth?
Could the person you love possibly be some grotesquery inside? For those that have just found their true love and don't mind some bone-rending depictions of what pain is, this is a movie I would definitely recommend. I say this because it is a gray cloud in a blue sky, one that would deflate any balloon thinking about flying friendly skies, and that might possibly help nightmares coat those smiling shades. Through what amounts to a little seed of doubt, this display of entrancing angles and foreign seaming (and subtitles) make you wonder if the words you are hearing, the ones that make you think all things are possible, are actually truths being birthed.
It is this ability to impact, this precision seeding valleys of doubt, that make it delectable.
Rating:
Summary: An intelligent and chilling modern classic
Review: AUDITION is directed by the exceptionally prolific Miike Takashi (just check out his filmography on IMDB), the director whose movie VISITOR Q was made infamous in NZ by a certain minority group of self-appointed moralists.
Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) is a bachelor who decides to hold fake auditions for a movie he never intends to make. Instead he uses these as an opportunity to build up a portfolio of women who have the potential to become the future Mrs Shigeharu. But Aoyama's search ends quickly when he comes across the file of 24 year old ex-dancer Asami Yamasaki (Eihi Shiina), whose promising career came to a premature end at 18 because of hip problems.
Asami strikes a chord with Aoyama at her audition, and they go out on a date. Asami appears to be the perfect woman; but unfortunately his focus veers away from the movie and onto her. Of course Aoyama's collegues can sense bad juju radiating from Asami: an actress with no agent, contacts or associates- in fact nobody appears to have heard of her. In fact Asami has a traumatic past which has scarred her for life and below the surface of that pretty face.... you can guess the rest. But the rest is a big surprise. Trust me.
AUDITION is brilliantly filmed, intelligent, dark, funny with some rather unsettling scenes including a grisly garotting, impromptu tongue piercing, and an extremely sadistic acupuncture session. But I won't spoil all the gruesome details, you'll have to see for yourself. AUDITION is a true masterpiece but not recommended for the squeamish. I hope I get the opportunity to see VISITOR Q at some point, if AUDITION is anything to go by I'm sure it will be good.
DVD features include an interview with Miike Takashi, and the movies' Japanese and European trailers.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the most disturbing movie I have ever seen.
Review: If the cover image is any indication, rely on your worst imaginings. I had an idea of what was going to happen, and I thought I had accepted that. But the movie disarms you because it almost comes off as a romantic comedy, if only initially. I suppose it could still have been a decent movie, if that was where it was meant to go. But the script, and its writer, had a very different idea of what Audition was to be. I will not bother with plot description, or ruin this movie for you. Rather, I would very much like to warn you about the gut wrenching finale this movie forces on you, then teases you, then kicks you in the stomach again. Up to the very end one is left wondering what is real, and what is imagined. Though my mind was set on not being shocked, the director seemed to know the exact strings he needed to pull to get an emotional, and physical reaction. 5 stars, and 90 degree bow for reminding me that cinema still has some surprises, even if the subject matter has been thoroughly experimented with. Watch this knowing, at least, that something at the end awaits you, and depending on what kind of person you are, the mood your in, or even the company you keep, you may/should very well be shocked. The power of film to get in your head, and stay there. Let us pray that Hollywood doesn't buy the rights, and try to make a terrible American version, something they've no problem doing. Some have said that this movie is hyped up, and maybe it is, but for my money, I was every inch disturbed by what I saw, and what I will see in every beautiful woman's smile until the day I die. Australia's "Bad Boy Bubby", has now been violently kicked off the top of the heap...(good luck finding a copy of that) Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: My take
Review: As a female, the scenes where the woman gleefully sticking needles in him and slicing off his foot with gusto are worth the price of a rental. It's a great revenge fantasy for every wrong men done to you and every pent-up frustration with men. ....kitty kitty...... ;)
Rating:
Summary: A Suspense That Resembles No Other...
Review: I purchased this movie on recommendation, and I must admit that I was getting very disappointed and angry in the first few minutes of the movie. However, at the end of the movie, I was content, well enough, after all the suspense scenes I had hoped and got. Takashi Miike's movie, 'The Audition', is about the relationship between a man who has lost his wife seven years ago and a young peculiar woman whom he gets to know in an audition he organises for the sake of finding a potential wife. The beginning of the movie reveals the life of the man and his son, in a family context. Everything is so peaceful and quiet that you doubt whether it's the correct film that you put on. But, yes, it's the right film. As we see scenes where the previous life of the young woman is revealed, the tension suddenly forms and mounts. Despite his friend's warnings, the man decides to take his relationship with the woman further. They see each other more frequently. And the rest of the movie is totally insane; differently insane, though. The editing and montage of the film has been perfectly done; the ideas are clearly expressed, and visual cues are provided in all cases, where one might need to remember a particular previous scene. The movie, in general, is not a horror movie. It is actually anything other than horror movie, for it depicts sincere family relations, love, dismal life conditions. Yet, the final scenes are masterpieces of bondage violence. There's something different about how the Japanese directors stress tension upon the audience; and I like it a lot. 'The Audition' is a perfect film that has to be watched by everybody who wants to get thrilled slowly, yet highly.
Rating:
Summary: One Of the Best Movies I've Seen!...so far
Review: I couldn't help but draw a relationship with Ringu 0. I'm probably sound ridiculous, but i felt the same way with this movie, at the end, that i did with Ringu 0. It seemed to me he loved her to the very end like in ringu 0, and hoping this never had to happen and it was all just a dream. I watched it at night thinking it was a horror flick, but in my opinion it was more freakish love than a horror film, yes i admit the scenes of chopped of tongues and fingers was a little scary, but i believe it was a weird love story....very weird....very...very...weird.
Rating:
Summary: wow!!
Review: this movie is edgy, and scary, and gross. i'm finding that i'm enjoying asian cinema more than i ever thought i would, and it's movies like this one that make the effort very worthwhile. the only complaint i have is that the subtitle track didn't work, so i was left a little in the dark about the motivations of the main female character in the film. it's a very sinister and creepy look into the "blind date" mentality, and what you can get for your money.
Rating:
Summary: Audition is a subtle movie with a graphic ending.
Review: I'm prompted to write this review because it appears to me that many other reviewers didn't grasp the whole plot. If you haven't
seen this movie already PLEASE DO NOT READ MY REVIEW! Go watch the movie first, and then come back for my opinion on what this movie is about. As other people have stated, Audition is a movie about sex roles in Japan. It is also a movie about love-blindness. The "hallucinations" at the end of the movie are actually real memories that he suppressed. When he is going out with the girl of his dreams he is in love, and his mind chooses not to see the bad things. He thinks he has a pleasant conversation with her, drives her home, and drops her off on the street. In reality, she tells him about the abuse, and then takes him back to her apartment where he discovers that she keeps her last boyfriend inside a bag (sans an ear, his tongue, and a bunch of fingers) and only feeds him her own vomit. That is the real punch at the end of the movie, when you realize that he should have seen it coming, but he didn't because he was in love and overlooked the bad parts of her personality.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: Follow the advise others gave before: The less you know about the movie, the more impressing it will be. Stop reading, start watching and prepare for impact.
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